


The Fisherman and His Soul

by YamiAki96



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Fisherman Castiel, M/M, Mermaid Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 18:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5795974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YamiAki96/pseuds/YamiAki96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evangeline74 requested: You don’t mind less than happy endings do you? I liked your story. I love ghost and haunted houses. I want to thank you for writing it. If you can write something like this then you write this prompt: I want a Destiel story based on this http://literature.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fisherman_and_his_Soul preferably with Cas as the Fisherman and Dean as the mermaid but that is up to you. Please Please tell me you’ll do this. You’re an excellent writer and you write beautiful bittersweet stories stories like The Eighth Sin. This makes me confident you can write this prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fisherman and His Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CoralQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoralQueen/gifts).



Castiel wrapped his fingers in the net and tugged, shocked to find how heavy it was. He pulled it up worriedly, hoping for fish and against a sea monster. After struggling for a few minutes, he came eye to eye with a green eyed merman.

Memorized by his beauty, Castiel reached for him. The merman flinched back for moment, then allowed the fisherman to touch his face.

“You have to let me go,” The creature said. “I am my father’s only child. He will be lonely without me.”

Castiel considered this for a moment before nodding slowly.

“I will release you, but only if you promise to always to come when I call and sing for me when I ask.”

“I will,” The merman agreed, twisting eagerly in the net. “My name is Dean.”

Castiel lowered the net and watched as Dean swam away. He wondered, as he threw his net out again, if the creature would keep his word.

~*~

A few days later, Castiel was out on the sea again. He cast his net out, then called to Dean.

A few moments later, the merman rose out of the water and rested his arms on the side of Castiel’s boat. For a moment, the fisherman worried the the boat would tip under the new weight, but when it stayed level, he relaxed a bit.

“I would like for you to sing for me, now,” He requested. Dean nodded and started to sing the most beautiful melody Castiel had ever heard. The fisherman knew that the fish loved the sound of a mercreatures singing and was soon enough pulling net upon net full up into the boat. When he was happy with his haul, he released Dean again and returned to the shore.

They repeated this every few days for weeks. Castiel left every time with a playful wink from the mercreature and his boat overflowing. As time passed, Castiel spent more and more of it listening to Dean and left with his boat a little less full.

“I’ve fallen in love with you,” He said one day, leaning in close to Dean as he sang. “I want to marry you.”

“You can’t,” Dean said, running his finger tips over Castiel’s face. “You have a human soul. But if you could give your soul away…”

“How do I do that?”

“I wish I knew.” Dean looked towards the water. “I have to go now. I’ll see you soon?”

“Of course.” Castiel watched Dean disappear under the water and didn’t leave until he was out of sight, not one fish to his name.

~*~

“Castiel, you’re soul is the most important part you. It is not something one just ‘gives away!’”

“I am aware of that, Father,” Castiel said, following the priest as he walked down the aisle between the pews. “But I have fallen in love and have no use for my soul.”

“Dear child, whatever makes you think that?”

“He is a merperson. I cannot be with him while I have a human soul.”

The priest froze and turned to Castiel, his face a mixture between shock and anger.

“'Give away your soul!’ ‘He!’ 'A merperson!’ I don’t know which is worse!” The priest stormed by, knocking Castiel out of his way. “I suggest you go into solitude and pray long and hard, boy. Ask God to forgive you for your wicked thoughts!”

Castiel left the church and went out into the town. He found some merchants and offered them his soul, but the refused him.

“A soul is not physical. We cannot make money off it. It is worthless to us.”

Castiel went away, miserable. Was there no one who could help him? Half way to his cottage, he looked up from his shoes and saw a woman offering to tell fortunes on the streets. He ran over to her, his heart rising again.

“Tell your fortune, dear?” She asked.

“Can you tell me how to give away my soul?” Castiel panted. The woman blinked at him and smiled.

“That I do, love,” She said, scooping up the card on her table and shuffling them. “But that type of information doesn’t come cheap.”

“I have money!” Castiel said, digging into his pocket for a handful of shillings that he carried. The witch’s laugh made him pause.

“I don’t want your money, love,” She said, spreading the cards out again.

“Then what do you want?”

“I need an escort to a party tonight that He is hosting. If you come with me, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“I’ll go,” Castiel agreed, no other thought in his head other Dean.

Hours later he found himself dancing with the witch, Rowena, in a large clearing in the woods. There were other people there, laughing and drinking and doing other things which Castiel tried not to notice. Over all it wasn’t so bad, really.

“It’s time to see Him, love,” Rowena said, taking Castiel’s hand and leading him to a small group of people, surrounding a pale man in a suit. The man came to each of them and kissed them. The closer he got, the more uneasy Castiel felt.

When the man reached him a Rowena, he could take it anymore. Everyone gasped loudly when he crossed himself. The guest all started running in different directions, the man in the suit disappeared. Rowena tried to run, but Castiel held tight to her arm.

“You made a promise to me,” He said. The witch tried to tug herself free, but Castiel held fast until she finally gave in.

The sand was still warm, despite the sun having set hours before. Castiel walked to the water’s edge, the removed the knife that Rowena had given him from his pocket.

“Castiel!” A voice cried from inside of him. “Castiel, you can’t send me away.”

“I have to,” Castiel said, looking out into the sea. He could see a familiar figure on the horizon, hear his voice calling to him.

“Please, at least give your heart. A soul can’t live without a heart.”

“And I cannot love Dean without one.” The blade glinted in the moonlight as Castiel brought it down. In one smooth motion, Castiel cut his shadow free from his body and felt something leave him. He looked up and saw a reflection of himself staring back.

“You are free of me, then,” His soul said. “I will return to you, every year on this day.”

Castiel disappeared into the water without another word. The soul watched as the two figures came together in the moonlight, then went away to find a place in the world.

~*~

A year later the soul returned to the beach and called out to Castiel. After a long wait, the man rose out of the water.

The soul told him of its adventures in the east, where it was shown the mirror of wisdom. It told Castiel that it stolen the mirror and had hidden it. The soul told Castiel if they joined together again, he would show him where the mirror. Castiel refused, saying that his love for Dean was better than wisdom.

Castiel returned to the sea, where he and Dean swam away, twisting around each other and laughing, and soul went to seek adventure elsewhere.

Another year passed and the soul returned for Castiel again. This time it told Castiel of its trip to the south, where it refused to bow to an emporer and was dragged into the palace. When the emporer could not kill the soul, he gave it the ring of riches. The soul offered to give Castiel the ring if the fisherman returned to it, but Castiel refused again. His life with Dean was worth more than all the riches in the world.

The soul went away again, and returned a year later. When Castiel rose out of the water, the soul told him about a girl that was the most amazing dancer that the soul had ever seen, only a days journey away. The soul pointed out that Dean could not dance with Castiel because he did not have feet. Castiel considered this. A day away couldn’t do much harm. He agreed to let the soul back in to go see the dancer.

The soul took him far away, to cities miles and miles from the sea. The soul made Castiel steal from the good, strike the innocent, and murder the kind hearted. Too late, Castiel realized that the soul had turned over the years.

“You sent me away without a heart,” The soul said. “I told you not to, but you did.”

Castiel fought against the soul until he finally returned to the sea. He tried to cut his shadow away, but soul only laughed.

“You cannot release a soul more than once. We are bound forever.”

Castiel cried out for Dean everyday, but the merman would not rise from the waves. He built a small cottage for himself out of driftwood and waited for his lover to return to him, all in vain.

“Let me back into your heart, Castiel,” The soul whispered, after many nights passed. “Let us be one again.”

“Yes,” Castiel agreed, miserable and lonely. The soul tried to enter the heart, but found that it was too full with Castiel’s love for Dean.

Castiel lived his life alone, only his wicked soul for a companion. His love for Dean kept him from following the souls wicked instructions. He watched the water instead, and hoped that Dean would come back to him.

One evening, big, black storm clouds rose above the water. The carried with them wind that blew Castiel’s down around him and rain that washed the wreckage into the sea. Lightening streaked across the sky and thunder echoed after it. Castiel laid on the sand, hoping the storm would take him.

The next morning the sun shined brightly from up above. Castiel woke cold and wet. He struggled to stand and looked around him. There was a figure far down the shore, just out of the tides reach. Castiel ran to it, picking his way around dead creatures and other thing washed ashore.

Castiel screamed and fell by Dean’s side, taking the mermans face in his hands. His green eyes that had once been bright and full of mischief were now pale and glazed over with death. His body was still and cold. Castiel threw himself over the body and weeped.

“Get up, Castiel,” The soul said, after a long while. “You’re lover is no more, but you are still here. Eat, drink, be merry. There are others in the world for you.”

“There is no other for me,” Castiel disagreed, not moving from Dean’s body.

No matter what the soul said, Castiel would not move. Not when the smell of decay became so strong that he could barely breathe, not when his stomach cried out in hunger, and most certainly not when other people came to the beach to enjoy the day.

Castiel died with Dean in his arms, just as his soul reentered his heart from one of the cracks Dean’s death left inside.

~*~

The priests demanded that the bodies be buried in a field far the church, where nothing grew but thorns and other vile weeds. Two unpure hearts would fit in well.

Many years later, the priest was beginning his sermon when he noticed a bouquet of beautiful wild flowers. He asked the town florist what type they were, but the man did not know. No one did. When the priest asked their origin, a girl told him that she and her friends had picked them in a field far from the church, and that there were hundreds more there for the taking.

That evening, the priest laid a blessing on all of the creatures of the sea, and on the field where two pure souls rested.

**Author's Note:**

> The original idea belongs to Oscar Wilde, characters belong to Supernatural.


End file.
